Integration is going awful

[Imachickenmama]

We have 3 feed and water stations.
The new girls will try to hide and end up in a dead end corner where they stick their head and the bullies are on their back pulling feathers out.

Important parts of the 'basics':
Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

 

[aart]

The new girls will try to hide and end up in a dead end corner where they stick their head and the bullies are on their back pulling feathers out.

That's why hide outs should not create 'dead ends'.

 

[WhitneyJo]

I'm having a hard time too. I have 4 Australorp hens and a Bielefelder roo. I'm trying to introduce just one Bielefelder hen. My four girls just reached laying age a few weeks ago....the new hen is a little over 1 year old. I've had the new girl in a coop directly adjacent to the main coop for over a month, sharing a fence. Everyone had been very curious and there had been no violence. I mixed them during free range time and all heck broke loose. They had her by the neck..it was awful.. I've been doing supervised free range time and the new girl just stays as far away from the others as possible, she does get along with the rooster however. I've been worrying about her staying warm all by herself in the little coop, so I finally just put her in the big coop and put the two meanies (the two lowest girls) in the little coop. They get along fine, so they can huddle to stay warm at night. The new girl is doing great with my top two hens and the roo, she is even sleeping between them at night. I don't know what to do except keep doing supervised free ranging until some kind of peace establishes....

 

[123RedBeard]

So ... how are your girls doing?

 

[azygous]

The article I linked to in my first post may be about integrating a single hen, but the principle applies to any number of new, younger birds.

Chickens have different temperaments, some bold, some timid, others easy going and accepting. A lot of this temperament depends on genes or breed.

Timid younger chickens pose the biggest challenge because they are easily discouraged by the home flock being aggressive toward them. This is why I take integration very gradually.

I begin with the new chickens being in a protected enclosure which is completely visible to the flock. After a few days, the newcomers get a short period of mingling with the flock. After the first pecking order incident, the newbies are put back into their protected enclosure before they can get discouraged.

I do this each day for around three weeks, extending the length of time the new girls mingle with the flock a bit more every day. Each time, they go back into their protected pen when the interaction threatens to discourage the new girls.

The reason I do it this way is because throwing the newcomers into the flock too soon can erode their self confidence, and a timid chicken is more likely to believe herself a victim. This causes her to behave as a victim which starts a vicious cycle of bullying, rendering the timid chicken into a chronic victim.

When you understand that it's normal for new, younger chickens to be afraid of the chickens in a new flock, and if you watch them withdrawing into a corner out of self defense and terror, you might be able to see how this can become a chronic problem if not taken slowly and carefully.

Some flock keepers here do toss new chickens into the flock to figure it out on their own, and it can sometimes work out okay. But when you do this to timid chickens, they may never successfully integrate, and there's the chance you will have a flock with constant conflict, and worse case scenario is a mangled chicken or a dead one. Having a peaceful flock is worth the extra trouble in my view.

 

[proudmommie31]

I’ve rearranged the coop on an existing flock before, added new roosting levels and/or changed their positions. They were so busy scrambling to reclaim all the best positions they weren’t all that interested in the “newbies” after that.

 

[Imachickenmama]

We completely redid the run. More feed and water stations, fresh hay, pots of grass for snacks, huge stumps, ladders, tire for dust baths. I have one bad girl in chicken jail. The others are doing alright. My other Orpingtons have been the best with them. I've got another flock of 5 to integrate , and they are with those girls. Still getting bullied a little, but not horrible. They refuse to go and free range for now . So in the run with the other new, new girls. It's like a chicken soap opera over here.